“Our hope and our aspirations are held within that motto,” Saccone said in a video posted on his website. “So, it benefits us to have our children to look up and see that national motto on a wall in our schools.”

It is legal for public schools to post the national motto, after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2011 that upheld it as the national motto. The legislation would encourage school districts to take advantage of that ruling.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation, a nonprofit that supports atheism and separation of church and state, plans to fight the legislation.

“I think Americans are a diverse group and we should honor all kinds of Americans, and I think it's important for the government to remain neutral on all questions of religion,” said Stephen Hirtle, a local member of the foundation.

The national motto was established in 1956 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower wanted to distinguish the United States from the atheist Soviet Union. U.S. currency printed before 1956 does not have the line.

Saccone believes that the legislation could come up for a vote in the Senate next week.